Cybertron No More
Kup is dead and if Virulina gets her way, the rest of Cybetron will soon join him! 'Synopsis' Kup is dead! While Ironhide races outside the city of New Prysmos to alert Cybertron's authorities, the Darkling Lords Virulina and Cindarr parade the decaying remains of the Autobot's head as a trophy. Leoric trails after, desperate to make Virulina reconsider her declaration of war, but is horrified to find that Merklynn has also used magic against the Cybertronians, killing his two guards. As Leoric skulks off, the Darkling Lords present Kup's head to the populace of New Prysmos and vow to make Cybertron theirs. Members of the Spectral Knights gather in their headquarters, the Redoubt, where they discuss their options. Leoric declares that if the Spectral Knights can't head off a war, they face being wiped out by the Cybertronians. Arzon doubts whether fighting the Darkling Lords is the best option, given the small number of Prysmosians left after the destruction of the planet, but Galadria, Witterquick and Ectar convince him that there's no value in survival if it comes at the cost of the genocide of another species. The group resolves to act. In the streets, the masses cheer for Virulina as she sets the Darkling Lords about destroying the pylons powering the energy shield around the city. At Pylon One, Cravex is about to attack when Witterquick speeds in and stops him. At Pylon Three, Galadria faces off against Cindarr, the two summoning their totem forms for battle. Pylon Two sees Ectar quickly despatch Lexor, but finds himself faced with a hostile crowd. At all the pylons, the ordinary citizens of New Prysmos turn on the Spectral Knights and defend the Darkling Lords. Virulina and Merklynn watch on and gloat, until Leoric arrives and attacks. Both he and Virulina summon their totems for battle, but Virulina is able to get the better of Leoric, leaving him open to a final blow from Merklynn. Ironhide reaches Wheeljack's makeshift lab, where he informs the scientist and Breakdown of the death of Kup. His demands for vengeance are cut short by Wheeljack informing him that the Visionaries' magic is potentially too dangerous for the Cybertronians to overcome and that they might not even be able to stop the Talisman from reaching Vector Sigma without being destroyed in the process. Leoric enters with the Spectral Knights and offers to make an alliance with the Cybetronians in order to stop the Talisman and the Darkling Lords. Back in New Prysmos, Virulina is crowned Chancellor and vows, again, to kill all the Cybetronians. Characters In order of appearance Quotes To be added Notes Trivia *Last issue had a meeting of the Visionaries which was implied to include all the Spectral Knights bar Cryotek (who wanted "nothing to do with it" because he thought it was "shameful"). This issue now includes Ectar, who was either absent last issue or was the unnamed arm visible in only one panel. *This issue (finally) shows us the Visionaries using their powers and they are significant changes from the original: **Power staffs are now collapsible, allowing them to be worn on the back like shields. **Rather than the summon powers of the old series, the staffs simply display each Visionary's animal totem, like their chest plates. Visaggio has referred to this as "streamlining". **The Visionaries turn into (or summon - it's not entirely clear) their totem animals through the power staffs, rather than the chest plates. **While still based on Earth animals, most of the totem animals have been made arbitrarily alien. Galadria's dolphin form has a unicorn horn, Virulina's shark form has four eyes and an elongated tail and Leoric's lion form has large tusks. The totems are also uniformly large, with Cindarr's gorilla totem about the size of King Kong rather than a normal gorilla. *More changes become apparent for the Visionaries from their old selves, as Lexor actually willingly gets into a fight (though quickly loses) and Ectar - the arch sceptic and rationalist - invokes an oath with "in the sacred name--" before getting interrupted. *Cravex asks Witterquick what the downside of super-speed is, in what is possibly a mangled riff on his quip to the speedy Spectral Knight in The Dark Hand Of Treachery. Errors *Despite being convinced of the need for action, Arzon doesn't actually help fight the Darkling Lords and is absent til the Spectral Knights reach the Cybertronians.*Ironhide leaves New Prysmos at full speed to report Kup's death, yet he only arrives at Wheeljack's lab a little bit before the Spectral Knights, who have had time to have a meeting, get into fights, recover and get thrown out of the city. *It's not really made clear where Wheeljack's lab is. Given he's gone to New Prysmos to investigate the Talisman, it's fair to infer that it's within the city's walls. Here, Ironhide leaves the city to reach it, suggesting it's in Cybertron proper. *If it is out in Cybertron, how are the Spectral Knights able to find it, especially without being noticed by other Cybertronians? *Wheeljack's lab also has screens showing Virulina, Merklynn and Leoric, yet has no knowledge of Kup's death. *Despite the start of this issue picking up immediately from the end of the previous, Virulina and Leoric have gained power staffs they didn't have previously. *Waspinator appears on the cover, but not in the issue. *None of the Transformers sound right for their current IDW incarnations. Wheeljack calls Ironhide "sir", which is just bizarre, while Ironhide (though justifiably angry) is nothing like the calm, almost-zen like character he's been over Til All Are One recently. He likes calling people "war criminals" a lot too. *If the Visionaries' powers have been "streamlined" to remove the summon powers, why is Witterquick able to move with super-speed? He's not in his totem form and there's no suggestion of him using magic to do so. *Half the Visionaries aren't listed on the cast page, despite having lines and plot function. References Category:Fiction Category:Media Category:IDW Category:Comic Books